Overview
For your final project, you will record a five minute pitch of your business idea. You may either pretend that you are pitching to ask for funding or pitching to get someone to join your founding team. I would recommend using some type of visual aid, like a PowerPoint slide deck, but you are welcome to be creative with that (i.e. have a "prototype", draw on a whiteboard, use another presentation software, etc.). Like the elevator pitch assignment, this project requires you to present a lot of information in a short amount of time, so you will need to be at or near the 5 minute mark (you will lose points for being under 4 minutes or over 6 minutes). You will probably have to practice a few times to be able to explain your idea clearly, while still leaving plenty of time to talk about your market research and profit potential (if you have found that your idea won't make money, you may want to go the route of pitching to a potential founding team member, where you hope that they can help you achieve profitability).
In your pitch you should address the following (assessment form):
Product or service being offered is clearly and plainly stated. (20 points)
Use of a prototype (sketch, demo, etc.) is encouraged to help support this part of your presentation.
- Customers are clearly defined and reachable (20 points)
Customers are those who purchase your offering. Customers may or may not be the same as your end users; if the customer and end user are different people, be sure to show that you understand both.
- Who are/who will be your customers? (segments and personas) How will you reach them? (awareness) Why will they choose to purchase your offering? Once they decide to purchase, how will you deliver your offering to them?
- The offering/product/service solves a real problem in a significant way. The offering is distinctive/unique. (20 points)
What is the unique value proposition of your offering?
- What customer pains are alleviated, and what are the customer gains if they adopt your offering?
- Why you? (20 points)
- Founders possess the knowledge, skills and relevant experience to make and deliver the offering
There is clear differentiation from competition. (20 points)
- Who are your competitors?
- If there are none, that's either a red flag that this opportunity may not be as attractive as you think it is, OR that you haven't done sufficient research yet to identify the competition. At minimum, consider the competition of the status quo/doing nothing.
Point of distinction is recognizable to the customer and is superior to substitutes/alternatives
- Revenue model and cost structure (20 points)
You don't need to (and in most cases can't and shouldn't) develop detailed five year financial projections. You SHOULD demonstrate
- a viable path to profitability,
- a clear and understandable path to capturing the value you create for your customers,
an understanding of the unit economics of your offering (marginal cost to produce or deliver your offering, and the price you would be able to reasonably charge for it.
- Presentation quality (30 points)
- The presentation is professional, clear, well organized, and clearly communicated in both written and verbal forms